Vous Voilà

Masters of Disguise

"I think we should go by a consignment shop," commented Maple. "They're not going to have the same number of cameras as an outlet store."

"Because they kinda want people to steal the clothes anyway?"

"...Probably, yes."

They pulled up outside a consignment shop, being sure to take the key with them, hiding their screwdriver in the glovebox. After stepping inside, they were immediately overwhelmed with the scent of mothballs and cheap perfume.

"I've always wanted to go to one of these!!" squealed Enoki, speaking just above a whisper.

Yeah, thought Maple, is there anywhere you haven't always wanted to go to? But then again, that's me too... Darn it.

Maple headed over to the first rack that caught her eye and started going through the clothes. It was kind of relaxing, really. Slow-paced, picking out what she wanted. There was an arbitrary time limit – getting caught – but she wondered how much the people in the consignment shop even knew about the Enoki case. After all, there wasn't a television in there.

She found a few outfits that she was fond of, but she was only going to limit herself to two – one was a turtleneck with skirt, tall socks, and lightly used sneakers. She thought it was so strange that the girls on her floor hated used shoes – but maybe she was just used to them at this point. The second one was a crop top, velvet jacket, and high-waisted jeans – she'd save that one for later.

After going to the changing room and making sure everything fit (and feeling pretty good about herself), she decided to pick up a used backpack and take everything to the front. Now to find Enoki.

"Hoi!" chirped Enoki.

Maple turned around. Enoki was wearing a giant banana costume.

"What the-"

"I'm a Bananoki!"

"I... see that. Did you pick out anything else?"

"Bananoki picked out two more outfits."

"Do you seriously want me to call you 'bananoki?'"

She nodded, which involved her entire body.

Maple sighed. "How do you expect me to respond when you act like this? I mean, seriously? Do you want me to laugh?"

Enoki ducked into one of the changing rooms, assumingly to take off the banana costume and bring out the outfits she picked out.

Turning around, Maple groaned.

"You two friends?" asked the lady behind the counter.

"Something like that, yeah," she replied. "We're roommates."

"Charlottesville Magic? Ain't nobody else uses uniforms like that." She sighed. "You an elf?"

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't an elf," replied Maple.

She seemed confused. "But your ears..."

Maple felt her ears. "Yeah, they're clipped."

She shook her head. "What about her?"

"No, she's just rich."

The lady behind the counter smiled and nodded. "I see, I see. Y'know, my daughter's half-elf, and we're gonna see if her magic comes in soon. Maybe she'll be able to go to that school on a scholarship."

"It's a good school," answered Maple. "I'm not good at any of it, but it's a good school."

Enoki walked out. She was wearing a hoodie, brown skirt, leggings, and big, fluffy boots. In her arms was the banana outfit, another folded outfit, and her school uniform. She put it down on the countertop. "How does your daughter like long dresses?"

"In the winter she's fine with 'em," answered the lady behind the desk.

"I wanna give my uniform to your daughter," said Enoki, "'cos I know it's expensive and I wanna help."

She smiled. "Thank you, darling."

Maple sighed. "You know what? Me too. For variety sake, not all of us like those long dresses."

"Thank you both," she said with a smile. "That'll help when she gets old enough, as long as she fits, but I can sew, so let's hope they can't tell."

The two walked out with their new outfits in their hands and dropped them off in the back of the car, under some of the seats. Maple pulled the convertible top over, just to make sure no one stole their new clothes.

"How does giving people stuff feel?" chirped Enoki.

Maple sighed. "Shut up."

"Hmm?"

"I don't... I don't like to think about it."

"Hm?"

Maple didn't respond.

Enoki decided to wait for a moment, twiddling her thumbs, watching the outside of the car. It was a very pretty day that day, and the weather was just about perfect hoodie weather.

"I can't do this," she whispered through tears.

Enoki put a hand on her shoulder, a little confused but not wanting to seem calloused. "You can cry. C'est bon."

Maple gripped the steering wheel and began to come apart at the tears, screeching just a little under her breath as tears fell down her face. Enoki just sat in silence as Maple occasionally convulsed for a long, long time.

"Do you want to go back?"

"I can't," she whispered. "Not now. I stole a car." Her face turned beet red, and fire sparks began to appear on the backs of her hands. "Aaron's going to want to pay off whatever they make me pay in court, and then he's going to lose his apartment and any chance at happiness he has left, and it's going to be my fault. It's all my fault, Enoki. I do nothing, nothing, but hurt him. When he figured out that I failed all my class... Enoki, he's... it won't be good. He's given up his entire life. All of it. For me. I... I want to fake my own death."

"Fake your death?"

"Yeah..." she said, drying up. "If he thinks I'm dead, then maybe he won't worry about me anymore."

Enoki wasn't sure what to tell her.

"That's next on the agenda," she said, smiling a little, still shaking. "Faking my death. Pretending like I'm not here. Then we can just live out on the road and forget all about it, and he'll forget all about me."

"Maybe, um, something else should be on our agenda first."

"What?"

"The.. blind elves, on horses, they're over there."

Maple looked up, and just coming over the hill and darting around cars as if they were trees, were an entire band of dark elves.

"How do they-?"

Maple started the car. "Buckle your seat belt.You'll need it."